Welcome back from the fucking stone ages.

For more than 10 years, North Carolina law required teachers to tell teenagers they were “expected” to abstain from “sexual activity outside of marriage.” But abstinence-only education didn’t have the lasting effect on teenagers that lawmakers hoped.

According to the state health department, from 2003 to 2007, the teen pregnancy rate rose more than 12 percent. North Carolina now has the ninth-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country.

Beginning with the 2010 school year, school districts must begin offering broader information, which includes lessons on contraceptives and preventing sexually transmitted diseases. Parents can elect to remove their children from these lessons.